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Spanish Egg Chocolate
2 SQUARES UNSWEET- ENED CHOCOLATE 2 CUPS MILK 1/2 CUP SUGAR 1 2 TABLESPOON CINNAMON I TEASPOON VANILLA EXTRACT In double boiler cook chocolate and milk together to velvety consistency. Keep stirring as you add salt and sugar, then cinnamon and vanilla at the finish. Beat an egg in the bottom of a pitcher or molinillo and pour hot chocolate over. Froth it well and serve. (From The South American Cookbook, by the Browns.)
A drinking chocolate thickened with a raw egg beaten to a froth, in the Spanish and Mexican manner. Two details need attention before you start: the ingredient list omits two things the method calls for, and the cinnamon quantity is not clearly stated.
- The missing ingredientsThe method calls for salt and for an egg, neither of which appears in the ingredient list. Use a pinch of salt and one large egg for the quantities given.
- The cinnamon quantityAs printed, the cinnamon measure is ambiguous. Half a tablespoon of ground cinnamon suits two cups of milk; a full tablespoon is assertive but not wrong for this style of chocolate.
- Squares of chocolateA "square" of unsweetened chocolate is one ounce, so this is 2 oz total. Modern baking bars are often scored into half-ounce sections, so check the wrapper weight rather than counting squares.
- MolinilloThe carved wooden whisk used for Mexican chocolate, spun between the palms to raise foam. A small balloon whisk or an immersion blender does the same job; a milk frother works too.
- Double boilerKeep the water below the bowl at a bare simmer. Chocolate and milk held over direct heat scorch on the bottom and the sugar catches, which is the whole reason for the water bath.
- "Velvety consistency"Melt the chocolate into the milk and whisk until no grit remains and the surface is glossy. It should not boil at any point.
- The eggPouring hot chocolate onto a beaten egg while whisking is a tempering step, not a cooking one. Pour in a thin stream and keep the whisk moving or you will get threads of set egg; if you are serving anyone who should avoid undercooked egg, use a pasteurized egg.
- YieldTwo generous cups, or four small ones in the traditional style. It thickens as it stands, so froth and serve at once.
The recipe comes from The South American Cookbook (1939), compiled by Cora, Rose and Bob Brown, a family of American food writers who traveled and ate their way through Latin America and published prolifically in the 1930s and 40s. The dish itself belongs to a much older Iberian and Mesoamerican lineage: chocolate arrived in Spain as a drink, not a confection, and was worked to a foam with a molinillo, the turned wooden beater still sold in Mexican markets. Cinnamon was among the spices Spanish cooks substituted for the chiles and achiote of pre-conquest chocolate, and beaten egg appears as a thickener and enricher in some Spanish and Latin American drinks, rompope among them.